UB becomes a cooler, more modern place

Keila Torres Ocasio

Updated 12:18 am, Monday, August 26, 2013

Students Alana Petinaud and Rodesha Luckett, both of Brooklyn, NY, talk about the physical improvements and renovations on the University of Bridgeport campus Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013 at the school.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Cherrell Marquez, 19, of Hartford, center, settles into her dorm room in the newly remodeled Cooper Hall with help from her sister Naejah Hall, left, and cousin Nautica Maignan and mother Kymilene Marquez Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013 on the University of Bridgeport campus.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

George Estrada, vice president of public facilities for the University of Bridgeport, talks about the physical improvements and renovations on the University of Bridgeport campus.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

George Estrada, vice president of public facilities for the University of Bridgeport, talks about the physical improvements and renovations on the University of Bridgeport campus.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

A few feet away, dust filled the air as workers finished the creation of a new pocket park outside the dorm entrance.

"That was the first building I was in. It was hot," said Luckett, 21, who came to the university from Brooklyn, N.Y.

The buildings that make up the seaside campus were more suited for a 20th century student body than a 21st century one, said George Estrada, UB's vice president of facilities, who was taking a tour of the campus with visitors and Mary-Jane Foster, vice president of university relations.

"When I first walked into Cooper Hall, I said `This is exactly what my dorm looked like -- and it was 1970,' " Foster said.

But that was before the university qualified for state-backed bonds in 2007 -- for the first time since the 1970s, said Estrada, who had just been hired.

He and his crew embarked on a five-year, $42 million renovation of the entire campus, which is winding down. Most of the work has been on updating the facilities, expanding residential spaces and adding classroom space for the university's increasing student body.

The improvements mark the first major face-lift of the 56-acre campus since the 1990s, when the Professors World Peace Academy, an arm of the controversial Unification Church, came to the bankrupt university's rescue with a $100 million bailout in exchange for 60 percent of the seats on the board of trustees.

Now with a balanced budget that no longer relies on Unification Church subsidies, the university boasts championship athletic teams, including its gymnastics team. It also has all-star athletes, like swim team captain Oscar Pereiro, the three-time NCAA Division II 100-yard backstroke champion, who was chosen to represent Spain at the 2013 World University Games held last month in Russia.

UB's School of Engineering also has more graduate students than any other college engineering program in the state, and enrollment has grown from 1,383 students in 1992 to nearly four times that number.

Already completed were the Fones School of Dental Hygiene, which has a new $4.5 million, 30-station treatment clinic on the fifth floor of Warner Hall. The Wahlstrom Library three years ago was transformed into a book-free electronic wonderland of computer stations, "smart" classrooms and digital information.

This summer, it was Cooper Hall's turn to get the 21st century treatment.

Those renovations are complete, and the class of 2017 will be the first to experience modern air conditioning in Cooper Hall, much like the class of 2015 did when moving into Chaffee Hall two years ago.

Cooper Hall also has a new roof and energy-efficient windows to match the updated furniture added several years ago.

The air conditioning was a relief for Cherrell Marquez, who has asthma. Her family helped her move into Cooper Hall this week.

"As far as how everybody made it seem, it looks better," said Marquez, 19, as the bright summer sunshine shone through new, larger dorm windows.

"We pretty much touched every building on campus this summer," Estrada said. "It's been a fast and furious summer."

Besides installing new roofs and windows, workers also did abatement of hazardous substances in the buildings they entered, which usually included removing asbestos from inside the walls or ceilings.

"I don't believe in encapsulating or masking something, because I never want to do it again," Estrada said.

Estrada said he hopes to complete the campus-wide renovations by Sunday. The project has necessitated moving departments temporarily around campus as work progresses at sites like the School of Business. Other departments, such as information technology, will be moved permanently.

It no longer made sense for IT to be located in a basement of a building closest to Seaside Park, Foster said, noting the violent storms that have struck New England in recent years.

Renovations are also being done to bring online parts of buildings that had lain dormant for years, including the top two floors in the campus' Health Sciences Building. Those floors have been empty since the building was converted from a dorm hall into an educational facility a decade ago.

"I really wanted a bookstore, so I'm glad they have it here," said the New York City native, already envisioning herself clad in the new UB Knight gear.

Another focus of Estrada's has been to add meeting spaces for students, faculty and visitors in every nook and corner inside and outside campus buildings. Indoor lounge areas received more comfortable, colorful furniture (UB purple, usually) and wifi access.

The space that now houses the bookstore was once just a large lounge with no real purpose, Estrada said. By Sept. 1, the bookstore will be just one amenity there. A restaurant, Sandella's Flatbread Cafe, is now in construction, along with new seating and lounge areas. The Twisted Cafe in the back corner is still there, but its front wall has been removed to make it an extension of the seating area. As in other UB meeting spaces, a wall of stools and laptop hookups is being installed.

Those connections will tie directly into the library, allowing students to work in the student union and send documents to a printer in the library.

The university has also elevated green spaces and pavement to remove staircases from building entrances, to allow for wheelchair access.

Estrada was focused on adding green spaces throughout the campus -- from pocket parks outside nearly every building to planted medians in parking lots. Estrada said he has added benches and small plazas where student use has worn dirt paths in the lawns.

"What we're trying to do is create spaces," Estrada said. "We have an incredibly beautiful campus. We're situated on Long Island Sound. We're encouraging our community and even our neighbors to enjoy it."

As if Estrada had planned it, minutes later Adriana Brooks, a senior from Springfield, Mass., stopped to ask him whether student clubs could use the new brick plazas to host outdoor events.

"I love how they've made more open spaces," Brooks said, noting that the class of 2014 has been eagerly awaiting the completion of renovations that had just begun when they enrolled. "It's a nice way to end senior year."

But once those projects are complete, the work still continues. Estrada's next project is to renovate all the elevators on campus and to preserve the historic mansions and homes on campus, some of which he hopes to convert into graduate housing.

"You know what, I'll never be done," Estrada said, laughing. "It's like at home. You paint the living room and then you look at the room next to it and you think, `I can't leave it like that.'"

The university is also exploring the possibility of installing a fuel cell on vacant land to power the campus.

"One of the big things that is a driving force is the opportunity to independently power ourselves after storm events," Estrada said.

For now, though, he is focused on meeting his Sept. 1 deadline for the ongoing work.